Nearly three dozen dogs made the journey from the Lone Star State to the Windy City after several Texas animal shelter facilities sustained damage from severe weather last month.
A total of five different Houston-area animal shelters were affected; one in Pasadena lost its whole roof to a passing tornado.
The rescue dogs are being taken in by PAWS Chicago, a no-kill shelter that opened in 1997 and has since found homes for over 70,000 pets, according to its website.
There are 33 dogs — 27 of which are puppies under the age of 1 — being moved from Texas to Chicago.
A press release from PAWS Chicago stated that it had reached out to the Pasadena Animal Shelter and others upon hearing about their forced closures due to the “rare January tornadoes [that] struck the Houston, Texas area.”
Kristina Rosinia, the chief operating officer of PAWS Chicago, told The Dallas Express that the organization has been doing disaster relief since 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit.
This was made possible by a “dedicated force of volunteers,” who are willing to drive down and help out those animals in need.
According to PAWS Chicago’s website, volunteers put in 95,386 hours in 2022 alone.
The dogs have all arrived and are receiving medical care at the on-site medical center at PAWS Chicago, which is another reason that rescues are often sent to the location, according to Rosinia.
She said the dogs are all now just “settling in” and “decompressing.”
The 19 males and 14 females have an average age of only 6.5 months and include eight different litters:
- 7-week-old Brie, Mozzarella, Parmesan, Colby, Feta, Provolone, and Cheddar;
- 10-week-old Duncana and Ducle;
- 10-week-old Levi and Louie;
- 4-month-old Duke and Knight;
- 13-week-old Stella and Sophie;
- 8-month-old Jasmine and Aladdin;
- 1-year-old mother Sonesta and 6-week-old puppies Sonoma, Soda, Spago, Sparrow, and Spartan; and
- 3-year-old mother Trina and 4-month-old puppy Tempo.
The rest of the dogs lived individually in the Texas shelters:
- 6-month-old Pixie;
- 8-month-old Trixie;
- 11-month-old Elijah;
- 1-year-old Twister;
- 1-year-old Tyrone;
- 1-year-old Zero;
- 2-year-old Amor; and
- 3-year-old Turtle.
Anyone interested in adopting or fostering any of these dogs is encouraged to visit the PAWS Chicago website here.
